Category Archives: Spring Bird Reports

March 1 – May 31, inclusive

May 14, 2013 – South Winds Rock!

Montrose was fairly busy this morning. Obviously last night’s south winds brought in some birds. There were good numbers of Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows and a notable influx of American Redstarts and Common Yellowthroats. Overall warbler numbers and diversity were low though. Here’s some of what I saw in about an hour and a half:

Common Tern – 3
Green Heron – 1
Turkey Vulture – 1 flying south. A good bird for Montrose in the spring.
Black-billed Cuckoo – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1, a good bird for Montrose at anytime
Eastern Wood-Pewee – ~6
Least Flycatcher – 3
Alder/Willow Flycatcher – 1
Eastern Kingbird – ~6
Great Crested Flycatcher – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 1
Warbling Vireo – 1
Marsh Wren – 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 2
Wood Thrush – 1
Veery – 2
Gray-cheeked Thrush – 1
Swainson’s Thrush – 2
Gray Catbird – ~20
American Pipit – 1
Cedar Waxwing – ~12
Tennessee Warbler – 1
Orange-crowned Warbler – 1
Nashville Warbler – 2
Northern Parula – 1
Cape May Warbler – 1
Magnolia Warbler – ~5
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
Black-and-white Warbler – 3
Blackburnian Warbler – 1
Black-throated Green Warbler – 1
Palm Warbler – 2
Wilson’s Warbler – 1
Northern Waterthrush – 2
Common Yellowthroat – ~15
American Redtstart – ~15
Scarlet Tanager – 1
Clay-colored Sparrow – 1
Savannah Sparrow – 50-100, everywhere, in the dunes, in the meadow, in treetops
Lincoln’s Sparrow – ~10
Swamp Sparrow – ~20
White-crowned Sparrow – ~75
White-throated Sparrow – ~15
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 3
Indigo Bunting – 1
Bobolink – 3
Orchard Oriole – 1

LeConte’s Sparrow and Northern Mockingbird, May 9, 2013

I went over to Montrose this evening to see if any shorebirds were on the beach. I didn’t have anything other than a pair of Spotted Sandpipers but there was a Northern Mockingbird working the willows in the dunes. I also had a LeConte’s Sparrow in the meadow, my first of the year and getting late. As others have reported there were scads of White-crowned Sparrows around. Interestingly, I didn’t see a single warbler of any kind.

Piping Plover Photo

Piping Plover

Piping Plover. Photo by Kanae Hirabayashi. (click to see the larger version.)

An unbanded male Piping Plover was at the east end of Montrose Beach on April 30 and May 1. Piping Plovers are rare but regular visitors to the beach in spring and late summer. We know the bird is a male because of the blackish breast and forehead bands. These bands are brownish on females. Piping Plover is an endangered species in Illinois and the rest of the United States.

May 1, 2013, Finally

Montrose was really hopping this morning. It never ceases to amaze me what a couple days of south winds can do in spring. In about an hour and a half I saw the following birds (not a complete list):

Piping Plover – 1, the unbanded male
American Avocets – 2, flew in from the south and landed on the beach around 6:30
Little Blue Heron – 1 adult flying south over Lake Michigan with 2 Great Blue Herons
Green Heron – 1
Red-headed Woodpecker – 1 near the golf course pond
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Least Flycatcher – 1
Great Crested Flycatcher – 1
Eastern Kingbird – 3
Sedge Wren – 1 in the meadow
House Wren – ~5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 2
Veery – ~4
Swainson’s Thrush – 3
Gray-cheeked Thrush – 1
Gray Catbird – 3
American Pipit – 1
Orange-crowned Warbler – 2
Nashville Warbler – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – ~40
Palm Warbler – ~20
Black-throated Green Warbler – 1
Yellow Warbler – 2
Hooded Warbler – 1 female in the Magic Hedge
Ovenbird – 1
Yellow-breasted Chat – 1 near the water feature
American Redstart – 1
Field Sparrow – 1
Henslow’s Sparrow – 1 in the meadow
Savannah Sparrow – ~30
Swamp Sparrow – ~40
Lincoln’s Sparrow – ~10
White-throated Sparrow – +
White-crowned Sparrow – ~10
Bobolink – 1 male
Purple Finch – 1

I probably missed a few things but you get the idea.

Smith’s Longspurs, April 28, 2013

Smith's Longspurs

Male Smith’s Longspurs. Photo by Matthew Cvetas. (click to see the larger version)

Karen Mansfield and I found a male Smith’s Longspur in the dunes this morning. The bird was initially in the open sandy and grassy area just south of the cottonwoods, but after a few minutes it flew north and landed in the dunes north of the cottonwoods. We didn’t follow the bird after the initial observation but others reported that this and a second Smith’s eventually flew off to the west and were not seen again. This is only the second Smith’s Longspur I’ve seen at Montrose in over 30 years of birding there.

In addition to the Smith’s, a Grasshopper Sparrow was in roughly the same area of the dunes. I also had a small loon flying north that was almost certainly a breeding plumaged Red-throated. Otherwise we saw nothing else of note and the slow spring migration continues, though I’m not going to complain too much.